Romney Campaign Chief Stuart Stevens in Denial

Stuart Stevens: "Mitt Romney - A Good Man, the Right Fight" on Washington Post

. . . Losing is just losing. It’s not a mandate to throw out every idea that the candidate championed, and I would hope it’s not seen as an excuse to show disrespect for a good man who fought hard for values we admire.

In the debates and in sweeping rallies across the country, Romney captured the imagination of millions of Americans. He spoke for those who felt disconnected from the Obama vision of America. He handled the unequaled pressures of a campaign with a natural grace and good humor that contrasted sharply with the angry bitterness of his critics.

There was a time not so long ago when the problems of the Democratic Party revolved around being too liberal and too dependent on minorities. Obama turned those problems into advantages and rode that strategy to victory. But he was a charismatic African American president with a billion dollars, no primary and media that often felt morally conflicted about being critical. How easy is that to replicate?

Yes, the Republican Party has problems, but as we go forward, let’s remember that any party that captures the majority of the middle class must be doing something right. When Mitt Romney stood on stage with President Obama, it wasn’t about television ads or whiz-bang turnout technologies, it was about fundamental Republican ideas vs. fundamental Democratic ideas. It was about lower taxes or higher taxes, less government or more government, more freedom or less freedom. And Republican ideals — Mitt Romney — carried the day.

On Nov. 6, that wasn’t enough to win. But it was enough to make us proud and to build on for the future.

Stuart Stevens on CBS with Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell

STEVENS: . . . I’m a bit baffled as to why people look at the Obama campaign and say they won because of their ground game – at face value, when they turned out more voters four years ago than they did this time. I would give them more credit for their message in those states rather than just their ground game. I think it’s somewhat underselling what the Obama campaign did in their messaging capability to say it was just their ground game.

ROSE: Let’s talk about who voted. You made a point in the op-ed that Romney won people who make more than $50,000. We have the Governor speaking about the fact that the Obama campaign paid its voters and certainly it’s lower income voters. That seems to me a bit of sour grapes.

STEVENS: I don’t think that’s what he was saying. I think he was saying that there was an effort that the incumbent used as many other incumbents have used to reach out to constituents. That’s something we’ve seen in politics going back for a long time. They did it effectively. They had certain groups that they wanted to do well with and they did well with. We had certain groups we wanted to do well with and we would have done, would have won if we had done better with them.

ROSE: So was this a vote between the rich in America and those of the haves and have-nots, in your judgment?

STEVENS: No, not at all. I don’t think Anna Wintour was having fundraisers at her apartment and raising millions and millions of dollars for Barack Obama.


. . .O’DONNELL: Stu, you made the point in your Washington Post article that Mitt Romney won every group of voters making over $50,000 a year and that he did better than John McCain among white voters. But didn’t you underestimate the size of the minority vote?

STEVENS: Well, I think it’s a case where the Obama campaign did a very good job of speaking to voters who felt that his presidency had been a success. When you look at the numbers in this, there was a sharp divide between those that felt that the President had been successful and those who felt that they weren’t. That’s not uncommon. We saw the same thing in 2004 with the Bush campaign where there was a sharp divide between those that thought that he had done a lousy job and those that thought he had done a very good job. The battle in that campaign was for each campaign to turn out those who thought that each side had done a good job. They were able to turn out those that thought that the President had done a successful job. I think that their messaging spoke to them. I think that the images of the President in the storm were very helpful to him. It reminded them of what they liked about the President. It was successful.

ROSE: Let me get in one point here. So you had this election to do over, even though George Bush said, “I don’t do do-overs,” what is the big mistake that you as the adviser to the candidate and the candidate made in this election? What might have made Romney president?

STEVENS: It’s a great question. It’s a tough question. We’ve talked about it a lot. I think we should have done a better job reaching out to women voters – the Governor has a great record on women’s issues. We should have done a better job articulating that record. We should have done a better job reaching out to Hispanic voters. We should have done it earlier. And in a more effective way. And I think looking forward those are questions for the party. I think we have a very good message there. We just have to do a better job with it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh for effs sake. I just read the Stu Stevens piece and my BRAIN IS BURNING WITH FIRE.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) November 28, 2012

Shorter Romney spox: "We could have won, except for the entire GOP platform" tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/11/stuart…

— Matt Jones (@al2o3cr) November 29, 2012

This Stuart Stevens op-ed reads like much of it was drafted before Election Day. washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-goo…

— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) November 28, 2012

Agree w/Stuart Stevens: Romney campaign was a "national movement". Latinos & women across the nation moved as far as they could from him.

— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) November 28, 2012

If Stu Stevens' private advice for Romney was as delusional as this op-ed, no wonder he lost. wapo.st/U2JDvY

— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) November 28, 2012

Stuart Stevens, Buffoon
. . . Stevens seems to argue that Romney practically won, because he won a majority of voters who make more than $50,000 a year. “That means he carried the majority of middle-class voters,” Stevens claims. What a skewed, self-serving way of dividing up the world.
First of all, the median household income in the U.S. is $50,000; median personal income is around $40,000. So most Americans make less than $50,000; they’re not some tiny fringe group. Also, I’m sure that lots of people who make in the $25,000 to $50,000 range consider themselves middle-class. They’ll enjoy Stevens consigning them to the pool of low-income Obama dependents. And the notion that voters who aren’t middle-class don’t matter is disturbing, but no surprise coming from the guy who backed Mr. 47 Percent.
. . . Earth to Stuart? Those “minorities” are about to be the majority.
Essentially Stevens advises Republicans to stick to their elitist, plutocratic guns, because the Democrats won’t have a charismatic black guy fronting for them in 2016. Go ahead, GOP, listen to him. Please.
~ Joan Walsh on Salon


Stuart Stevens should have kept it to himself
. . . Stevens fails in precisely the way in which the campaign failed: a refusal to acknowledge real and material incompetence by himself and others on the campaign. The piece stubbornly refuses to express regrets or apologies for a campaign that, as evidence has come forth, makes “The Perils of Pauline” look like the Rockettes.
. . . It would be fitting, and certainly less grating, if Stevens included some real acknowledgment that the narrow loss is, in large part, attributable to the errors (we now know) he and his fellow, well-paid advisers made. He writes as if the only thing he didn’t do right was have a winning campaign. Hardly.
~ Romney supporter Jennifer Rubin on Washington Post

We'll Always Have Denver
. . . Ah yes, Denver. Denver, Denver. Leave aside that the first debate wasn't really about "fundamental Republican ideas vs. fundamental Democratic ideas" since Romney trounced Obama in the debate precisely by Etch-a-Sketching his campaign positions and tacking away from the party line—above all on the subject of taxes—at such a clip that it left Obama adrift and bewildered. Regardless, for those 90 minutes, and the media-ballyhooed polling surge that followed, Romney looked like he might be a winner. But then he wasn't. Oh well. Thanks, guys.
~ Alec McGillis on The New Republic


President Kennedy once said that, "Victory has 100 fathers but defeat is an orphan." Sadly, this singular truth has somehow managed to evade a number of Republicans, including Stuart Stevens, the Romney Campaign's top strategist. He's just the latest in a long line of apologists including the candidate himself that try to explain the loss in a way that comes perilously close to insulting the electorate. . . . First it was Mitt Romney who accused the president of bribing the electorate with free stuff. That was very effective. Now we have Mr. Stevens, another Olympic Gymnast of Self-Justification, who comes out and his big silver lining saying Mr. Romney only lost among voters who make less than $50,000 a year. Is the painful truth too hard for these men to bear?
~ Martin Bashir on MSNBC

Stuart is a friend of mine. I know him from politics for a long time, so I wouldn't trash him personally. I think he's being loyal and describing an election that, when he puts his spin on it, was closer than some others would like to say. I think the big thing that Republicans like Stuart are missing is that there's a whole new electorate out there that they are not appealing to, and by failing to offer solutions to ordinary Americans' problems the Republicans had nothing to offer beyond the same tax cut mantra and demonization of Obama as a Socialist, and that won't work anymore. That day is past.
~ Matt Miller, WaPo Columnist, on Martin Bashir Live

I have met Stuart. He's not a friend of mine, but you read the piece he wrote in The Washington Post, you listen to that stuff . . . and you say no wonder Romney lost. The arguments he's making are both fantasy and they're pernicious. He says crazy things like no one in Washington, in the Washington Green Room, ever thought Mitt Romney was going to be the nominee. It took a movement to get him the nomination. Everybody thought he was going to be the nominee! And what was the cause that was at the heart of this movement? Secondly, he says, well, look, the guy won the whiter, wealthier vote, and, therefore, we carried the day. That's a line out of Saturday Night Live! The truth of the matter is if that's all you got and you didn't get 270 electoral votes , I suppose you have received the Jim Crow prize for second place finish in the presidential campaign. It's crazy.
~ Democratic Strategist Bob Shrum on Martin Bashir Live

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Wingnuts Get Nasty When Fluke Nominated for Time Person of the Year

Dennis Miller on Bill O'Reilly, asking whether Sandra Fluke should be Time Magazine "Person of the Year"

"I think she's perfectly emblematic of the modern woman. And it's sad to say, but single women, that's what's been yielded out by the women's movement. I didn't see that coming. But it would appear helplessness, perpetually being caught in the stasis of a 1968 Virginia Slims ad in a magazine. She's Moan of Arc, that's the way most women went in this election. I think she'll only accept the cover if they agree to comp her subscription. It seems that she's in that business. And you know something? If this is the way that gals want to go, like I said, Billy, I got my pod face on. I'm happy for the women. You are women, hear me snore. Everybody makes their pick. I think she'd be a perfect Time magazine Person of the Year. Nobody no more represents current day America to me than Sandra Fluke."

So you got JFK with Person of the Year with Time, you've got Gandhi, and maybe now—Sandra Fluke.
~ Megyn Kelly on Fox News

(Fluke is) a Poster Child For The Santa Claus Presidency And The Food Stamp President.
Kennedy said, 'Ask not what your country can do for you,' and now we've got Sandra Fluke saying, 'My country can buy me birth control for three years of law school at Georgetown.'
~ Lars Larson on Fox News

TIME Magazine has nominated Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who demanded you pay for her $10 a month birth control pills, as person of the year. This will put her up there with Adolf Hitler and Yasser Arafat.
~ Jim Hoft on The Gateway Pundit

Fluke, of course, is the condom rights advocate turned Georgetown Law School martyr who testified before Congress about the hardships encountered by young female law school students who couldn’t afford to pay for their own birth control pills. Rush Limbaugh ripped her, prompting faux outcry from the left, all the way up to President Obama, who seized on the incident as proof that the right was waging some sort of war on women, as opposed to a battle against pathetic dependency on government. Obama called her personally, then used her as a campaign surrogate.
Leave it to Time to make her its Person of the Year. Of course, in the year of the dependent American voter, they might be right.
~ Ben Shapiro on Breitbart

And this is why the Republicans lost the female vote by a double-digit margin.
~ comment by Brumanuensis on Media Matters

Dennis Miller no longer tells jokes, he's become one. Going on teevee and spouting misogynistic crap isn't going do much to resuscitate his dead career. Keep talkin', loser.
~ comment by Jingle Bells Macacawitz on Media Matters

Pee Wee's Playhouse was much more mature. Moan of Arc..get it Globey..heh heh
~ comment by LiPao on Media Matters

Norquist is an Irrelevant Defunct Fossil ~ Updated

While the anti-tax pledge's ship sinks, Norquist is standing on the deck, arguing with the passengers to stay aboard till they drown.
~ Andrew Riggio on Yahoo News

Who's afraid of Grover Norquist?
Fewer and fewer Republicans, thankfully.
~ John Avlon on CNN

. . . it’s safe to say that the paradigm has shifted in ways that simply didn’t hold true prior to the Great Recession. Put another way, the gargantuan nature of our problems will force lawmakers to consider policies which they never would have embraced in the good years. Tax hikes are one of these.
~ Henrik Temp on American Enterprise Institute

Former Senator Alan Simpson on Andrea Mitchell 
Wed. Nov. 28th
Video Here

. . . you know, here’s a good guy with a very bad idea and he was gathering up those signatures back in the ’80s and the early ’90s when inflation was zip, when unemployment was zip, and anybody who would sign anything before they come to Congress and hear the debate and participate in it hopefully and get in to the floor, management and the amending process and the conference committee, those people I mean why would you do that? It’s like selling your soul!

Now Grover, I said, would be irrelevant in two years, and I say that– he’s got about another year and a half to go– he will be irrelevant. This guy is a zealot. A zealot is one who, having forgotten his purpose, redoubles his efforts, and he sees the crumbling of the great house of cards.

It’s like Jarvis out in California back in the late ’70s. He’s left schools destitute, he’s left institutions destitute. You can’t come in and play this kind of a game when everything has changed in America, and this time everything has changed because it’s all coming to pass on December 31st, and Grover-babe is losing a person a day and he knows it. So what does he use to cover that? Cutesies. Little smart Alecs. I know that. I don’t know who else does that. I have done that.

He is becoming irrelevant. And you can see it in his eyes. He knows the game is up. Because good people of good faith have decided that instead of being Republicans, or Democrats, they’re Americans. And instead of being beholden to Grover Norquist and the AARP, they’re beholden to the United States of America. Those guys are going to take their lumps.

The Reign of Norquist Ends With a Whimper
In the same way that McCarthyism now largely overshadows the early days of the Eisenhower administration, the W. Bush and Obama years will be seen as the stage on which Grover Norquist's domination of domestic policy took place. His anti-tax pledge and the resulting government paralysis utterly defined the political climate of the period.
But with the sudden erosion of Republican support for his pledge -- Saxby Chambliss and the "gang of eight" are peeling away from the Norquist like the palace guards after the Wicked Witch finally melts -- it looks like the second Obama term may witness the decline and fall of Norquist. This is a consummation devoutly to be wished for Democrats and Republicans.
McCarthy was of course a public figure, while Norquist has been largely a stealth tyrant, in the glorious tradition of figures like Cardinal Richelieu or Rasputin.
~ Daryl Rowland on Huffington Post

It was clear that refusing the vow or, worse, going back on it would bring severe repercussions. To many Democrats, that made Norquist a devil figure. Actually, he was only channeling, very effectively, America’s Tea Party-like passions.
Now, though, America is hurtling toward the fiscal cliff, and there’s growing recognition that, without compromise on both sides, the country will plunge into the economic abyss.
~ New York Daily News

All of this technical discussion about a chimera created by a generally moronic lobbyist who is known to have been involved in the Abramoff scandal and somehow managed to avoid taking his own personal trip to prison along with Abramoff.
Can America be serious for even a brief moment, especially when we need to take immediate action to establish a sound budget and start cutting into our national debt?
~ comment by Roncouples on Atlantic

From Piers Morgan on CNN November 26, 2012

MORGAN: So you're Captain Bligh, on the bounty, the mutiny has begun. How are you going to avoid being chopped out the boat?

NORQUIST: Well, of course, it's a little funny to watch a senator or a congressman who got himself elected by promising the citizen of his state that he would go to Washington to reform government, not raises taxes to pay for our problems. Deciding that when they haven't done that and the going gets rough that they have an argument with me? I'm sorry but, you know, the congressman and senators who you're mentioning are the same people who two years ago were being quoted as starting a revolt against Boehner when he was demanding the Boehner rules, spending restraint when the president wanted his debt ceiling increase.

So the same cast of characters are turning in the homework for the second time two years later, there's not some snowball rolling. The good news is that the people who made a commitment to the American voters, to their voters, to their constituents are keeping it, and the focus is where it should be, on the fact that for four years President Obama has not reined in spending. Done nothing useful on entitlement reform. And all he's done so far in these negotiations is demand $1.6 trillion of tax increase so he can spend more money, not reining in spending. We need to have some focus on spending problems because that's the problem we have.
. . . (snip)

MORGAN: Yes, but Grover, Grover, only -- Grover, only you in America believes there has to be this -- what I believe to be really farcical, now absolute, pledge-for-life about these kind of things. Surely the nature of the modern world is very fast-moving, it's changing a lot. America clearly has huge economic problems heading for another fiscal cliff.

Everyone laughing at you from afar. The American public sick and tired of all the games going on. And there you, Grover Norquist, a very bright guy, still resolutely saying a pledge is a pledge is a pledge, it cannot be broken, when many of your own party now are saying, you know what, it doesn't make sense to just have this irresolute position anymore.

NORQUIST: Two things. The pledge is not for life, but everybody who signed the pledge including Peter King who tried to weasel out of it, shame on him as the "New York Sun" said today. I hope his wife understands the commitments last a little longer than two years or something. The commitment from the pledge --

MORGAN: Whoa, whoa. Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. That was a bit below the belt, Grover.

NORQUIST: Hey, if you think a commitment only is not for as long as you make it for, the commitment for the pledge, as Peter King well knows when he signed it, is that as long as you're in Congress you will rein in spending and reform government, not raise taxes. It's not for 500 years or two generations. It's only as long as you're in the House or the Senate. If he stayed too long, that's his problem. But you don't tell the bank, oh, the mortgage wasn't that a long time ago? If you make a commitment, you keep it.

MORGAN: Right. But this pledge was first signed in 1986.

NORQUIST: By some people. Of course, every two years people often re-sign it. They make statements on it. Mr. Chambliss, who's one of the people you're saying was having doubts, just two years ago made a public letter saying he would never support a deal that had any tax increases, only revenues stemming from economic growth, not tax increases. That was two years ago, not 20 years ago, and it was a public statement that he made --
(CROSSTALK)
NORQUIST: To the people of his state.

~~~~~~~~

Interview on Fox with Neil Cavuto (my Transcript)

Neil Cavuto: Fairly or not, Grover, you've been seen as this "Wizard of Oz" character who has been able to keep Republicans in lock-step with your thinking, and with more bolting, especially with prominent members bolting, it says something about what is in peril for you.
. . . I don't want to liken you to Tony Soprano, but are you saying you're going to remember these guys who are turning on you?

Grover Norquist: Okay, nobody's turning on me. I understand why Harry Reid is trying to personalize it as "Grover" but what Harry Reid doesn't want to say is that the American People don't want their taxes raised. They've elected a Republican Congress opposed to raising taxes, and I, Harry Reid, am at odds with the American people.

Neil Cavuto: They are going to raise taxes, Grover. They are - they're looking like they are. So -- is that a repudiation of you? Or recognition of the election? Or what?

Grover Norquist: Okay, first of all, the promise on the pledge is to the American People. What I have accomplished with Americans for Tax Reform is to make it easy through the pledge for elected officials, candidates and incumbents, to credibly commit that they won't raise taxes

Corker was elected to the Senate because he took the pledge. People had thought he was too moderate, maybe he wouldn't make it, but he made that written commitment to the people of Tennessee. He would not be a Senator today if he hadn't made that commitment. If he breaks it, he's going to have to have a conversation with the people from Tennessee about his . . . keeping his word. And the same thing about other people who were elected because they made that written commitment to the people of their state.

Neil Cavuto: That sounds like a threat.

Norquist: No -- look, I vote in Washington D.C. The people that Corker promised or (Saxby) Chambliss (R-GA) promised or (Lindsey) Graham (R-SC) promised are in their state. They haven't promised me anything. They promised the voters of their state that they would go to Washington and reform government, not raise taxes to pay for Obama's bigger government. They need to focus on reforming government, not raising taxes to pay for bigger government each year. And it's a lot of work - it's not easy! But throwing up your hands and saying 'Maybe I'll raise taxes' instead of governing is not the way to go.

It's Raining Men on the House Committees

Here's a little clip-n-save moment for you from today's news. The one thing that Republicans control in Washington is the House of Representatives, right? They have a majority there. And today the Republicans decided who they were putting in charge of their committees in the House. . . . In other words, they have put in charge everyone they have the power to put in charge of everything they are in charge of. And here they are (shows pictures). Did you notice anything about their selections? Here - here's the whole group (see picture above).
They picked these 19 guys. Notice anything?
So yeah, this is what you can clip and save for the next time someone in the Beltway tells you how seriously the Republican Party is taking its diversity problem. (laughs) Clip 'n Save, fellas.
~ Rachel Maddow on MSNBC

The 113th Congress will set some big diversity records, with more women serving than ever before and an entire delegation of women from New Hampshire, but unfortunately none of that diversity will be reflected in House committee leadership.
House Speaker John Boehner announced the chairs of most major House committees for the 113th Congress on Tuesday, and all 19 of them are white males, prompting many Democratic lawmakers to ask, “Where are the women?”—a phrase often echoed last year as women’s voices were kept out of hearings on women’s health issues.
~ Morgan Whitaker on MSNBC


Here is the list:

Agriculture – Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK)
Appropriations – Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY)
Armed Services – Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA)
Budget – Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)
Education and the Workforce – Rep. John Kline (R-MN)
Energy and Commerce – Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI)
Financial Services – Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
Foreign Affairs – Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA)
Homeland Security – Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX)
Intelligence – Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI)
Judiciary – Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
Natural Resources – Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
Oversight and Government Reform – Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)
Rules – Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)
Science, Space, and Technology – Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)
Small Business – Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO)
Transportation and Infrastructure – Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA)
Veterans’ Affairs – Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL)
Ways and Means – Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI)

Mitt Romney: "Hey Speaker Boehner, I have #bindersfullofwomen if you ever need them"
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) November 28, 2012

CBS News Story:

House Speaker John Boehner released the proposed recommendations for chairmen in 19 of the 21 House committees - powerful posts that set legislative agenda and priorities in respective issue areas - and there's not one woman or minority on the list.

In the current congress, one Hispanic woman led a committee: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who is chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee through the end of the year. She's stepping down as chairman due to caucus-imposed term limits on committee chairmen.

In fact, most of the chairmen from the 112th Congress are returning to their posts in the 113th - there are only six new chairmen out of the 19 announced.

In the Senate next year, women will chair 6 committees. In the Republican House - 0.

— Debbie Stabenow (@stabenow) November 28, 2012

@stabenow And the sad thing is, even when the GOP is made aware of their lack of women in leadership roles, they believe only men lead. #sad

— rod liggons (@rliggons) November 28, 2012

where are Romney's #BindersFullOfWomen when you need them huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/27/hou… GOP committee chairs all White Men
— Rajen Palsingh (@rajenpalsingh) November 28, 2012

House Chairs are all men. Lamar Smith ("christian scientist" of SOPA infamy) takes Committee for Science, Space, & Tech politico.com/news/stories/1…
— Amie Stepanovich (@astepanovich) November 27, 2012

Boehner's interpretation of Election results --> HUFF POST: House Committee Chairs Will All Be White Men: dems.me/WugtYF
— DCCC (@dccc) November 28, 2012

UPDATE:

It's almost like they're defiant, saying 'we're not going to listen to the election results, we're not going to change a darn thing we're doing, we think we're doing just fine. We got here, this is the club, this is the way we want it, and this is the way we're going to keep it.' Where are the women that they were pushing out during the War on Women debate? Cathy McMorris Rogers? Women who worked for them and defended their terrible, in my opinion, policies. Where are these people now?
~ Joan Walsh on Hardball

I get increasingly aware as you watch this show develop over the last, what - 18 years in different forms - I get increasingly aware that there's all white people at the table. The Sunday shows are the same way. You get the sense that there's something wrong with this picture.
~ Chris Matthews on Hardball

What's happened with the Republicans is they are, the Republican Party, is a Mad Men party in a Modern Family America. And it just doesn't fit anymore.
~ Matt Dowd on ABC News

Arizona Family Values: Santa with Guns

(Note: I usually don't editorialize on this blog, but OMG)

Are we surprised that some people in Arizona want to pose with automatic weapons? No. Is it a little sickening that these are Christmas pictures with Santa and small children? Yes. Especially in the state where Gabby Giffords was brutally shot in the head. I guess they've forgotten the movie massacre in Colorado as well. Ho ho ho.
Funny - the Tea Party likes to talk about religion and family values, and I don't remember any automatic weapons in the Biblical Christmas story. In that story, there were parents (Mary and Joseph) trying to protect a small baby (Jesus) from being killed by someone with no regard for life (King Herod). Remember that? NO guns. God told Joseph to flee with his family to Egypt rather than "standing his ground" against the government. They didn't lock and load, they just moved away to a safer place.
And Brian Kilmeade suggesting that they arm the Easter Bunny as well? This stuff really puts him in the Saturday Night Live Hall of Fame, but it isn't funny.
~ Snark Amendment





Story via CBS News

PHOENIX - An Arizona gun club is offering a chance for children and their families to pose for photos with Santa while holding pistols and military-style rifles.

One image shows Santa in a wingback chair with a snowflake background, a Christmas tree behind him and flanked by an $80,000 machine gun and a tripod-mounted rifle. Next to Santa is a man standing behind a boy, who is holding an unloaded AR-15 with an attached grenade launcher.

In another photo, Santa cradles a toddler dressed in camouflage, while a man and woman stand close by with rifles with foldable stocks. In yet another image, five beaming young ladies pose with AR-15, an AK-47 variant and other rifles as they surround old Saint Nick.

. . . "Our customers have been looking for a fun and safe way to express their holiday spirit and passion for firearms," said Kennedy, noting people have used the photos for Christmas cards and Facebook posts.

The guns used in the photos aren't loaded and have had their firing pins removed, and their chambers are regularly cleared to ensure safety, Kennedy said.

Ron Kennedy, Manager of Scottsdale Gun Club: It started three years ago . . . We decided to put together a structured Santa-Machine Gun Event.

Brian Kilmeade: What do you say to the people who think we're sending the wrong message, Santa and guns? 'Get my Christmas list filled out or else.'

Kennedy: I think whenever you talk about firearms it's always a divisive issue with some folks. It's a very black and white industry. Either you like them and support them or you don't. What we're trying to do is add a little holiday spirit into people's Second Amendment rights to be able to carry and purchase firearms.

Gretchen Carlson: It's anyone's right to do whatever they want, especially in terms of the Second Amendment. I know there is a member of Congress in Arizona, a Democratic member who is sensitive to the Gabby Giffords shooting incident and thinks maybe this is not the right image to portray. How would you respond back to that gentleman?

Kennedy: Well, I think people have an individual choice to make. If they don't want to participate in this they don't have to. It's not - it's basically something we provide as a service to our customers and members. We do go all through the safety precautions. Remove the firing pins. No fingers on the triggers. We do a completely free firearms safety class for families. So we definitely want to educate people about shooting sports and proper shooting techniques.

Brian Kilmeade: Do you think there is a chance that this could spread to Easter and have the Easter Bunny and families with guns?

Kennedy, Gun Store Manager: (No plans to do other holidays) Santa’s been supportive… He likes seeing the families enjoy the shooting sports together.

Kilmeade: Why not arm Santa?

Kennedy: Santa does not carry a firearm.

Gretchen Carlson: I think that’s a good idea, actually.

~ Fox and Friends via Raw Story

To involve machine guns and Santa in a celebration in the birth of Jesus Christ is the worst kind of heresy I can imagine. I would suggest that the people who created this read some of the New Testament.
~ Arizona House Democrat Steve Farley

What Christmas has been missing, I think, is guns. Right? The Gospel of Luke is cute, I guess, but it's kind of, you know, "not enough guns."
~ Gawker

Arizonans better watch out. They better not cry and they better not pout:
Santa Claus is coming to town –- and he’s got guns.
. . . Jingle bells ... shotgun shells?
Santa poses in front of an $80,000 Garwood minigun. In last week's photo shoot, families, including children, could choose from an arsenal -- pistols, semi-automatic AR-15s, and grenade launchers.
~ LA Times

Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like Santa Claus and an AK-47 — at least to members of one Arizona gun group.
~ NY Daily News

It has all the hallmarks of a traditional Christmas: an ornate tree piles of presents and a pair of lovingly clasped machine guns.
~ Telegraph UK

Nothing says “mythology of the peaceful savior Jesus” like an Arizona gun club hosting a Guns ‘n Santa family foto event.
~ Wonkette

Makes the ol' Red Rider BB Gun seem quaint in comparison, doesn't it?
~ comment by Mort_Sinclair on Wonkette

Not to be outdone, Texas wingnuts will hold a "pose with Santa strapped into an electric chair" event.
~ comment by GuanoFaucet on Wonkette

Now we're talking Competitive Shopping!
~ comment by DaRooster on Wonkette

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But that gun is so delightful,
And since we're all redneck choads,
Lock and Load! Lock and Load! Lock and Load!
~ ~ comment by Fukui-sanYesOta on Wonkette

Filibuster Fight Club in Senate ~ "Minority Rights" vs. "Naked Power Grab"

Scary Graphic from Politico
America believes Congress is broken. Once again the only ones who disagree are Mitch McConnell and Republicans in Congress.
. . . To stomp a filibuster on a motion to proceed to a bill, to take 10 days to just get on a bill — I don’t think that’s good and we need to change that.
. . . He [McConnell] keeps talking about not following rules. We’re following the rules. We’re following the Constitution of the United States to make these changes and that’s certainly appropriate.
. . . If they want to filibuster stand and talk about it, not be in your office some place
~ Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid D-Nevada

What the majority leader is saying is he will break the rules of the Senate in order to change the rules of the Senate. It has been the case in the past that it took a super majority of 67 which of course meant that most rules changes occurred because the two leaders agreed to them and were proposing them jointly, instead what the majority leader is saying is that he will propose to change the rules with 51 votes, meaning his side gets to decide what the rules are.
. . . I hope that Republicans, and hopefully many Democrats who care more about this institution than some temporary exercise of raw partisan political power, will come forward over the next few weeks and speak out against this naked power grab.
~ Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell R-Kentucky




It will shut down the Senate. It’s such an abuse of power.
~ New Senate GOP whip, Senator John Cornyn R-Texas

I think the backlash will be severe. If you take away minority rights, which is what you’re doing because you’re an ineffective leader, you’ll destroy the place. And if you destroy the place, we’ll do what we have to do to fight back
~ Senator Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma

“The minority voices the Senate was built to protect.”
Oh, enough of this old saw. The idea that you need a two-thirds vote to change the Senate rules doesn’t appear anywhere in the Constitution, and some scholars even think it’s unconstitutional. It comes from the 1975 deal in which the total votes needed to break a filibuster was lowered from two-thirds of the Senate to three-fifths. As for the filibuster itself, it didn’t emerge until decades after the founding of the Senate.
The American system of government was built to protect minority voices, but the Founding Fathers explicitly rejected designing the Congress around a supermajority requirement. In Federalist 22, Alexander Hamilton savaged the idea of a supermajority Congress, writing that “its real operation is to embarrass the administration, to destroy the energy of government and to substitute the pleasure, caprice or artifices of an insignificant, turbulent or corrupt junta, to the regular deliberations and decisions of a respectable majority."
~ Ezra Klein, Washington Post Wonkblog "Mitch McConnell’s five biggest whoppers on the filibuster"


We cannot allow the Senate to be dysfunctional by the use of filibusters. We’ve had over 300 filibusters in the last six years — it’s unprecedented. What we’re talking about is very basic — you want to start a filibuster, you want to stop the business of the Senate, by goodness’ sake, park your fanny on the floor of the Senate and speak. If you want to go to dinner and go home over the weekend, be prepared, the Senate is moving forward.
~ Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Illinois


Think of the cross marketing promotions though! "This 13th Hour of the Republican Filibuster brought to you by No Doz." And, much later, "This 27th Hour of the Republican Filibuster sponsored by Depends."
~ comment by ontheleftcoast on Daily Kos

Right now, all the general public really knows of the filibuster is what they've seen in either/or/both:
1 -- Jimmy Stewart's character in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"
2. -- "The Stackhouse Filibuster" episode on "The West Wing."
Both, much loved "traditional" understandings of the filibuster and both exemplifying "lovable/likable" fictional characters, espousing noble causes...
Let these GOPuckers actually have to show up and defend their preference for the current "lazy filibuster" process...
~ comment by Marjmar on Daily Kos


Those republican gasbags will have to LISTEN TO EACH OTHER bargling on and on, ad nauseum, for hours and hours, and HOURS! And the best part is WE CAN TURN C-SPAN OFF WHILE THEY DO! Hah!
And is this the first time I've ever heard Sen. Coburn being concerned about the rights of minorities?
~ comment by conniptionfit on Daily Kos

Here's an idea. Senate Rule XXII, which controls the filibuster, originally required two-thirds of all senators present and voting to break a filibuster. In 1975 this was changed to three-fifths of all senators duly chosen and sworn. But what if we went back to the present and voting standard?
In that case, the majority would still have to hang around, so there's a cost to trying to break a filibuster. But the minority has to hang around too. At any point, if too many minority senators have gone home or skipped town, the majority can call a vote and break the filibuster as long as they have three-fifths of all the senators currently on the floor.
~ Kevin Drum on Mother Jones

Obama Mind Control ~ Agenda 21

Mother Jones

On October 11, at a closed-door meeting of the Republican caucus convened by the body's majority leader, Chip Rogers, a tea party activist told Republican lawmakers that Obama was mounting this most diabolical conspiracy. The event—captured on tape by a member of the Athens-based watchdog Better Georgia (who was removed from the room after 52 minutes)—had been billed as an information session on Agenda 21, a nonbinding UN agreement that commits member nations to promote sustainable development.

In the eyes of conservative activists, Agenda 21 is a nefarious plot that includes forcibly relocating non-urban-dwellers and prescribing mandatory contraception as a means of curbing population growth. The invitation to the Georgia state Senate event noted the presentation would explain: "How pleasant sounding names are fostering a Socialist plan to change the way we live, eat, learn, and communicate to 'save the earth.'"

The meeting consisted of a PowerPoint presentation followed by a 90-minute screening of the anti-Agenda 21 documentary, Agenda: Grinding America Down. It was emceed by Field Searcy, a local conservative activist who was forced out of the Georgia Tea Party in April due to his endorsement of conspiracy theories about the president's birth certificate and the collapse of World Trade Center Tower 7. The presentation also featured a special video cameo from conservative talking-head Dick Morris in which the former Clinton aide warns that Obama "wants to force everyone into the cities from whence our ancestors fled."

Huffington Post

Gov. Nathan Deal ® last week named Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) to a seat on the governor's digital learning task force, formed earlier this year to study ways the state can use digital technology in schools, including digital textbooks. Deal made the appointment before a video surfaced of the meeting Rogers organized last month on Agenda 21, the U.N. sustainability program.

“Senator Rogers has been nationally recognized for his leading efforts in digital learning. I appreciate his willingness to serve as we strive to make Georgia the premier state for incorporating new technology into the learning process,” Deal said in a Senate statement about the Rogers appointment. The task force position is unpaid.

. . . Rogers dropped his bid to seek a third two-year term as Senate majority leader during a Republican caucus meeting on Thursday evening, citing a desire to spend more time with his family. But Better Georgia, the progressive group that taped the Agenda 21 meeting, claimed credit for forcing Rogers out of the majority leader's race.

From Jay Bookman on Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For those not well-versed in tin-foil theories, Agenda 21 is an obscure document created in a U.N. conference 20 years ago. If you read the document, it is a perfectly reasonable, utterly harmless recitation of standard land-use planning techniques. It is particularly aimed at developing countries that are trying to adapt to sudden population shifts from rural to urban areas.

But somewhere along the line, sifted through the minds of the paranoid, Agenda 21 becomes something much more sinister. For example, GOP senators attending the Capitol briefing were warned that those spreading the traitorous Agenda 21 have been trained in the use of a mind-control technique known as the Delphi technique. Among the buzzwords that betray influence by Agenda 21 include “best management practices,” “international baccalaureate,” “historic preservation,” “livable communities,” and “public-private partnerships.”

. . . According to Field Searcy . . . the influence of Agenda 21 can already be detected in the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Cumberland Community Improvement District in Cobb County and in Cobb County itself. Searcy also compared President Obama’s creation of a White House Rural Council to Josef Stalin’s five-year development plan that ended in the starvation deaths of millions of Ukrainians, and with Mao Tse Tung’s Great Leap Forward, which also killed tens of millions.

Sane people of Georgia, get out now while you are yet not forced to wear tinfoil hats.
~ comment by DrakeMagnum on YouTube

I heard Obama is actually an alien resurrected from Area 51.
~ comment by BrianSATX79 on YouTube

The problem is that the senators that sat and listened to that paranoid drivel can’t be voted out because there are too many voters here in Georgia who would believe Agenda 21 is real and a crisis for the country.
~ comment by ByteMe - Got ilk? on AJC

Digital learning? It was a Power Point Presentation. Good lord.
~ comment by larmarch5 on Huff Post

Another consequence of global warming (southern minds are melting faster)
~ comment by rich88865 on Huff Post

If Pres. Obama could actually use 'mind control' - I'm pretty sure some of the ones he would use it on would be the TEAbaggers. However - since they haven't changed - and seem to be getting nuttier - not exactly working.
~ comment by windstorm46 on Huff Post

Mind control was used during Dubya in the form of Orange and Red Alerts.
~ comment by layman24 on Huff Post

It's the Unified Nutbar Theory! Wraps everything up in a single big ol' ball of crazy.
~ comment by FlownOver on Wonkette

♪♫ There must be some kinda way out of here
Said the Joker to the Thief
There's too much confusion
The Seceders believe
Princess Lindsey always whines
Walnutz is just absurd
The Koch brothers were approaching
And Anonymous began to howl ♫♪
~ comment by weejee on Wonkette

omg... "FEMA" spelled backwards with different letters is 666!
~ comment by samedwards_net on Wonkette

Somehow, Republicans have been convinced that workers receiving the Earned Income Tax Credit are "moochers," while defense contractors are "makers." That an expansion of health insurance for the near-poor is a "gift," while tax preferences for investors are just "pro-growth policy." That the right of a factory to pollute a neighbor's property is "freedom," but the right to marry who you love is perversion.
If that's not evidence of "Delphi" wreaking havoc on the GOP coalition, I'm not sure what is.
~ Ilya Gerner on Comedy Central



Agenda 21 attempts to abolish “unsustainable” environments, including golf courses, grazing pastures, and paved roads. It hopes to leave mother earth’s surface unscratched by mankind. Everyone wants clean water and clean air, but Agenda 21 dehumanizes individuals by removing the very thing that has defined Americans since the beginning—our freedom.
Agenda 21 subverts liberty, our property rights, and our sovereignty. There is no doubt that the vast majority of Americans would reject this naked power grab by unelected bureaucrats. The real question is will we have Senators in Washington who will take the steps to stop this nonsense before it can do real damage to the American economy.
~ From TedCruz.org, the website for newly-elected Senator Ted Cruz R-Texas, who devotes an entire page to Agenda 21

Opponents of Agenda 21′s local implementation in the United States have begun mounting a notable resistance. At state capitals and city councils, activists are showing up to educate and lobby their elected representatives about the implications of this United Nations’ plan for sovereignty, property rights and the future development of the country.
It has become such a widespread phenomenon that media outlets everywhere are spinning into damage control in effort to ridicule the anti-Agenda 21 movement, hoping that it will go away before the general population understands the issue.
But their efforts are fruitless.
~ CconservativeRead.com

As an Okanogan County Farm Bureau member, I am personally very excited about the new policies that were passed. The issues facing Okanogan County today can all be tied back to Agenda 21 at some level - whether it be land acquisitions, wolves, or salmon recovery.
Drones are of great concern as well. Drones are being used around the country to spy on farmers and ranchers, as well as average citizens. By adopting these new policies, the Washington State Farm Bureau has sent a strong message that it will aid Okanogan County in our grassroots movement to fight this kind of tyranny.
~ Pamela Leslie, a farmer in Washington State

On a Third Term for Obama:
Listen, if you don’t believe in the Constitution and you’ve got a President who is not even eligible under the Constitution to serve, anything is possible, isn’t it? See the difference with the United States of America is that we’re supposed to be a country under the rule of law and that starts with the Constitution and that’s the most important law we have. And yet we ignore it every single day in Washington, every single day. Most acts of Congress are unconstitutional; we’ve gotten to that point. And the President has no—, he thinks we have a living Constitution that could mean whatever he wants it to mean. So hey, I wouldn’t rule it out.
~ Joseph Farah



From GlenBeck.com

Agenda 21

A violent and tyrannical government rules what was once known as America. The old, the ill, and the defiant all quickly vanish. Babies belong to the state. Against all odds, one young couple risks everything to expose the truth. But are they too late?

Just a generation ago, this place was called America. Now, after the worldwide implementation of a UN-led program called Agenda 21, it’s simply known as “the Republic.” There is no president. No Congress. No Supreme Court. No freedom.

There are only the Authorities.

Woken up to the harsh reality of her life and her family’s future inside the Republic, eighteen-year old Emmeline begins to search for the truth. Why are all citizens confined to ubiquitous concrete living spaces? Why are Compounds guarded by Gatekeepers who track all movements? Why are food, water and energy rationed so strictly? And, most important, why are babies taken from their mothers at birth? As Emmeline begins to understand the true objectives of Agenda 21 she realizes that she is up against far more than she ever thought.

With the Authorities closing in, and nowhere to run, Emmeline embarks on an audacious plan to save her family and expose the Republic’s true agenda.

The Yin and Yang of Grover Norquist

source: internet weekly

~~~~~~~~~~

Previous Posts about Grover Norquist:
Surprised Poopy Heads Try to Rebrand GOP
Poppy Bush Asks "Who the Hell is Grover Norquist, Anyway?"


~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Rs are holding.
The fantasy is that the Republicans would cave on marginal tax rates — they’re non-negotiable.
. . . The entire Republican leadership has been elected on that commitment in the House and the Senate.
. . . President Obama “will eventually have to extend the tax cuts as is.
~ Grover Norquist in a speech to the conservative Think Tank, Center for the National Interest

Listening to these confident assertions, the simple conclusion would be that Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, had been on a long trip in a remote location. More likely, the answer involves the substantial amount of trauma inflicted on Norquist’s worldview in the election.
. . . He assured the old guard at the center-right think tank (25 of the 26 at the horseshoe table were men) that the Democratic wins this month did not mean a rejection of his Pledge. It’s “a little tough to see a strong mandate here,” Norquist argued. “The president won a mandate not to be Romney for the next four years, because Romney gives people cancer and is a bad person and is mean to dogs.” Further, he argued, Obama “dropped, what, 8 million votes from the time before, the margin he got was shrinking, he was the incumbent, he ran a better campaign and we had a candidate who had myriad flaws.”
Also, the dog ate Norquist’s homework.
. . . But didn’t exit polls show that voters want higher taxes on the wealthy?
“You can get ‘If there were unicorns, what color would you like?’ answers from voters,” Norquist reasoned.
~ Dana Milbank on Washington Post

Grover Norquist: Washington Enemy No. 1
No one is caving," Grover Norquist says emphatically and repeatedly when we meet this week in his office in the nation's capital. By "no one" he means congressional Republicans, and by "caving" he means surrendering to Barack Obama's call for tax increases. Republicans are facing an avalanche of pressure from the White House, the media and even many on Wall Street to abandon their antitax principles to avoid a "fiscal cliff."
. . . Are Republicans defecting from the taxpayer protection pledge? Sounding exasperated, he says, yes, a few are having "impure thoughts. But the media keeps interviewing the same five or so Republicans in Congress who want to cut a deal."
~ Norquist quotes from Stephen Moore on Wall Street Journal

What can Grover (Norquist) do to you? He can't murder you. He can't burn your house.
~ Republican Senator Alan Simpson

To show our seriousness, we've put revenue on the table as long as it's accompanied by significant spending cuts.
~ Speaker of the House John Boehner R-OH

We're prepared to put revenue on the table provided we fix the real problems.
~ Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell R-KY

The yin and the yang of this is that we know there has to be revenues.
I haven't met a wealthy Republican or Democrat in Tennessee that's not willing to contribute more as long as they know we solve the problem.
~ Senator Bob Corker, R-Tennessee

I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge.
. . . if we do it his way, then we'll continue in debt, and I just have a disagreement with him about that.
. . . But I don't worry about that because I care too much about my country. (I'm) willing to do the right thing and let the political consequences take care of themselves.
~ Senator Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia

The Senator's reference to me is odd. His promise is to the people of Georgia.
. . . Sen. Chambliss mentions his fear of losing a primary if he breaks his word to Georgians and votes to raise their taxes. History reminds us that when President George H.W. Bush raised taxes in a deal that promised (and did not deliver) spending cuts he was defeated not in the primary, but in the general.
~ Grover Norquist via The Hill

If you are a worthless Republican politician and you want some good press from the liberal media, all you have to do now days is say you are considering abandoning your pledge not to raise taxes. You will be haled (sp) as “heroic,” “courageous,” and “pragmatic.”
. . . To call Chambliss an idiot is to insult people of lower intelligence. Chambliss is a poster child for every thing that is wrong with the political class in Washington.
. . . Chambliss made a pledge to the citizens of his state. Pledges are meant to be honored. If you cannot honor your pledge, then you are simply as much of a lowlife as a used car salesman or a United States Senator.
If you give your word and you break your word, then you are a liar.
~ Judson Phillips of Tea Party Nation


Some of Norquist's signers lost their seats. Some newly elected Republicans say they see no reason to sign a formal pledge on taxes. And at least six House members who once signed say they no longer consider themselves bound by it.
. . . when I asked him this week about his critics in the Senate, he was dismissive in return. None of them "are considered thought leaders on economic issues," he said. That's not a good sign. Describing senators from your own party as dim bulbs isn't normally how lobbyists win friends and influence people.
. . . an increasing number of prominent Republicans are dismissing Norquist as a pest.
~ Doyle McManus on L.A. Times

So Grover Norquist wants no tax increases. That's his right, and he deserves points for being intellectually consistent. But that doesn't mean members of Congress have to follow his (or anyone else's) rigid rules. Being a lawmaker is a grown-up job. Members of Congress should act like it.
~ Susan Milligan on U.S. News

The Norquist era has come and gone—and thank Heaven for that.
Whether you support tax increases for some or detest the very notion of anything short of a decrease in taxes, we elect leaders to think for themselves and to serve the needs of their constituents. Unless you are an elected official from a district that Grover Norquist calls home, Mr. Norquist, and his Americans For Tax Reform, are not a constituency—they are a special interest lobby.
The time has come for a little GOP courage....
. . . The clock on Grover Norquist’s fifteen minutes of fame has expired—and the sooner Republican incumbents and candidates figure this out, the sooner they will be able to impress the voters with their willingness to think for themselves and for their constituencies rather than turning control over to a lobbyist.
How can that possibly be a bad thing?
~ Rick Unger in Forbes

What is this? Fifth grade? Let's be blood brothers and like sheep follow Norquist or be banished from the Kingdom forever. OMG! Finally they are waking up to the hostage taker and ego-maniac Norquist!
~ comment by Constance on Wall Street Journal

Mock, jeer, taunt or ridicule Norquist all you want, liberals, as we move ever closer to the edge of the Fiscal Cliff. But, when we all fall off of it, you bloodsuckers who depend on the rich to subsidize your government handouts will hit the bottom hardest! We will see how many of you will be rescued by your messiah, Obama, as you scream in long, agonizing pain and stretch your arms (if they aren’t broken) up for help. Based on last four years, chances are that you won’t be!
~ Chief of Fraud on Washington Post

we petition the obama administration:
NO elected or appointed government official shall sign any pledge, take any oath, to special interests
To stop special interests Congress needs to have hearings, and consider the following:
No President, Congressman, or any other elected or appointed government official shall sign any pledge, take any oath, or make any commitment of any kind to any person, party or entity, in regards to their call of employment and duties thereof, save those prescribed by that of the Government of The United States of America.
Created: Nov 20, 2012
Issues: Budget and Taxes
Learn about Petition Thresholds
Signatures needed by December 20, 2012 to reach goal of 25,000
24,957
Total signatures on this petition
43
~ Petition at WhiteHouse.Gov

Epic Failure Reince Priebus Running for RNC Chairman

When I return the week after Thanksgiving, I intend to make an official announcement that I am running to continue on as your Chairman, but I wanted to let you all know first.
. . . I am humbled by the over 130 RNC Members who I have talked to who have pledged their support and public endorsement for me to continue on as Chairman so we can finish the job that we started and continue to grow our Party.
When we entered the building less than two years ago, we faced many difficult challenges. “The RNC was over $22 million in debt with almost no cash on hand; much of our donor base lost confidence and stopped contributing to the RNC.
We have accomplished a lot in the past 22 months, but obviously, there is much to do. We need to immediately assess and build our operations, get in the field and go on offense
~ Letter to 168 member of the Republican National Committee from failed chairman Reince Priebus, via Daily Caller

If he runs again, I don’t think he would have any serious opposition
~ Gov. Hailey Barbour of Mississippi

Why not. Apparently this is the year for absolute failures to win reelection? If he is reelected it will tell us if the party has any intention of growing and embracing the grass roots or circling their wagons around the country club.
~ comment by D.G. Burns on Daily Caller

Yup. The impotent Reinhold Reince Priebus and the weepy orange oompa-loompa John Andrew Boehner are just who the RNC/GOP Republican party needs to stick with through thick and thin. You betch'ya!
Because -- man -- they sure are effective visionary leaders.
Just keep going with the Same Old Same Old -- RepubliTARDS.
It worked so well in 2008 and 2012.
Screw this crap. Republican so-called 'Leadership' is hellbent on rendering the party extinct -- and rendering the USA as a one party government politic. I'm re-registering as 'Unaffiliated' and I'm going to be done with it.
Be extinct GOP. You have most definitely worked very hard at it and most certainly deserve it. And that's it -- I wash my hands of you.
~ comment by flatfoot on Daily Caller

Lather and Rince, but do not repeat!
~ comment by R. Cunningham on Daily Caller

I hope the guy gets re-upped. He did such a great job for the Dems...
~ comment by snarkk on Washington Post

Good, no doubt he will keep the GOP well stocked with idiots.
~ comment by rcc_2000 on Washington Post

It's the equivalent of the captain of the Exxon Valdez teaching a class on maritime navigation.
~ comment by G. Hoffman on The Hill

I was waiting for this "shoe to drop" and now that Priebus has been selected to remain as "Party chair" I am switching my party membership to Independent as I suspect many other long time Republicans will. The Republican Party just doesn't get it.
~ comment by Eagletwo on The Hill

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Allen West Will Not Concede in Florida ~ UPDATE Nov. 20th: Concession!

UPDATE: West Concedes, Nov. 20, 2012

While many questions remain unanswered, today I am announcing that I will take no further action to contest the outcome of this election.
. . . While there are certainly still inaccuracies in the results and the actions of the St. Lucie County and Palm Beach County Supervisors of Elections rightly raise questions in my mind and for many voters, after much analysis and (Sunday’s) recount in St. Lucie County, our legal team does not believe there are enough over-counted, under-counted or fraudulent votes to change the outcome of the election.
While a contest of the election results might have changed the vote totals, we do not have evidence that the outcome would change. Given the extremely high evidentiary hurdles involved in a successful challenge, I will not ask my generous supporters to help fund a drawn-out, expensive legal effort with little chance of success. Therefore, we will not contest the certification or challenge the seating of Congressman-Elect Murphy.
. . . I want to congratulate my opponent, Patrick Murphy, as the new Congressman from 18th Congressional District. I pray he will serve his constituents with honor and integrity, and put the interests of our nation before his own
~ Ex-Rep. Allen West in the Palm Beach Post

I appreciate Congressman West’s gracious concession today. I am truly humbled that the voters of the 18th district have entrusted me to represent them in Washington. To those who supported my opponent, my door is open and I want to hear your voice. I campaigned on a message of reaching across the aisle to get things done for the people of the Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches, and that is as important in this district as it is in Washington. I am excited and honored to get to work.
~ Acceptance by Patrick Murphy, newly elected Representative

~~~~~~~~~~
Since Election Day, we have been working for a fair and accurate accounting of the election outcome in which voters can put their full trust. We will review the results of today’s recount and the other available data to determine how to proceed.
~ Failed GOP Congressional Candidate Allen West

Republican Allen West's Democratic opponent Patrick Murphy has declared victory twice and already attended the Freshman orientation meetings on Capitol Hill. But for the last two weeks after the election, former Congressman West still refuses to concede ...
. . . It was announced on Sunday after getting the state or recount the votes in problematic St. Lucie County, West lost by even a wider margin than before. Ironically, Allen West, the man who channeled Joe McCarthy by declaring 80 House Democrats were Communists just can't handle democracy.
~ Ed Schultz on MSNBC

It’s time for Allen West to do the right thing and concede.
~ Eric Johnson, Murphy Campaign Senior Adviser

As usual, Murphy’s people are full of garbage. This is something the secretary of state and governor will have to sort out. ~ Tim Edson, Allen West's Campaign Manager

On the Allen West recount, we have a Republican governor here in Florida, right? His name is Rick Scott, right? I wonder, can Governor Scott do anything about this? It seems like rogue activity in St. Lucie County. Maybe go up there and go to the McDonald's and order some fries and not get any and then call 911, the White House, and just call attention, but there's something up there out of whack.
~ Rush Limbaugh Monday 11-19-2012

In a clear effort to overturn an election result after having lost at the ballot box, Allen West has now run to Governor Rick Scott to needlessly interfere with and politicize a non-partisan election process.
. . . All votes in this election were counted fairly and accurately, and Allen West has lost beyond the mandatory recount range. Having Governor Scott intervene is outrageous and inappropriate. After disenfranchising Florida voters by cutting down early voting days and creating extraordinarily long lines at the polls, Governor Scott is now trying to blatantly overturn an election result he disagreed with and undermine Gertrude Walker, a three-decade veteran of the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections office. Governor Scott needs to remove himself from this process immediately
~ DNC Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz



Tweets from supporter "Allen West Republic" on Twitter

"This means that members of the House of Representatives and of the Senate can refuse to recognize the election... fb.me/1KBwfix6r

— Allen West Republic (@AllenWestRepub) November 19, 2012

@allenwestrepub House Leadership can refuse to seat Murphy until election recount is completed satisfactorily.

— Mike(@MS1AZ) November 19, 2012

ALLEN WEST WARRIORS WE'RE PUTTING OUT AN URGENT PLEA: PLEASE CALL GOV. SCOTT TODAY, MONDAY 11-19 @ 8:30 AM TO... fb.me/23OkB9hsp

— Allen West Republic (@AllenWestRepub) November 19, 2012

@allenwestrepub WHY AREN'T WE DOING THE SAME THING IN OHIO & PENN? 3 STATES IS ALL WE NEED TO OVERTURN THE ELECTION!!FORCE THE ISSUE!!

— Jo (@composedof1) November 19, 2012

A REQUEST TO ALL THE ALLEN WEST SUPPORTERS:..I have always know there were many TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOTS that supported Allen West, BUT we had NO IDEA that through out OUR GREAT COUNTRY there were ARMYS of PATRIOTS that have come out over the last 3 weeks to FIGHT for the JUSTICE HE DESERVES.....I want to do a demographic survey. Please post in the comments like this......Jupiter,florida supports Allen West....I think it will be very interesting to ALL of us to see the results!!..Thank you, gary
~ Unofficial Allen West Republic on Facebook

Gertrude walker st Lucie MISSED COUNTING 40/96 districts thenCOUNTED the already counted TWICE. Demand FULL & TEA PARTY SUPERVISED RECOUNT

— Dr. Heidi Bach (@drheidibach) November 19, 2012

VOTER FRAUD: Gertrude Walker opposes election integrity, supervises West recount ht.ly/fomaA #tcot #p2 #ocra #ncpol #lnyhbt

— betseyross (@betseyross) November 20, 2012

Then there is Gertrude Walker, the 32-year-veteran election supervisor of St. Lucie County, who has spent much of the last two weeks explaining why her office completely botched the count. She admitted that her office had acted in “haste” in issuing election results, and that “mistakes were made.” Among her mistakes was failing to count 40 of the 94 precincts under her jurisdiction on Election Night — and then counting the other 54 twice. Indeed. On Friday, her office announced it had “discovered” 304 additional early votes left in a box. None had been counted.
But Walker wasn’t available for comment. She has been hospitalized for unknown reasons.
~ John Fund, National Review

In seeking to pull a fast one, Walker and her Democrat allies are picking on the wrong guy. Allen West is fearless, and he does not just give up, as far too many establishment Republicans are prone to do. He is fighting this in court, and if he faces reverses there, will continue the battle. The outrgaeousness of this attempted theft is such that it can and will become a cause celebre. We will not forget.
~ Thomas Lifson on American Thinker

The last person to realize that Rep. Allen West's political career is over (for now) is Allen West: bit.ly/Q5SPDz

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) November 20, 2012

Allen West refuses to concede defeat, or that his 1991 flat-top makes him look like Kid n Play's rightwing uncle.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) November 19, 2012

The only thing more embarrassing than Allen West losing his district would be if he actually lived there.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) November 18, 2012

@johnfugelsang What are the odds Allen West shows up on the House floor, and staff has to drag him off?

— John (@jhf5) November 18, 2012

There's something satisfying in a "harsh interrogator" like Allen West now appealing to activist courts to save his political skin.

— Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) November 12, 2012

Rick Scott, as usual, insinuating himself into the Allen West controversy, taking the WRONG side! Voldemort LIVES! #pinkslipRick

— Joanne Robrahn (@abynorml) November 20, 2012

H/t @rawstory: When Allen West Loses His Recount He'll Call For Revolution And Then His Own Fox News Show bit.ly/UON4Nq

— John Dean (@JohnWDean) November 18, 2012

Still Allen West is the only GOP idiot who lost the election twice.politicolnews.com/allen-west-los… Inmates in the Asylum. #Fla #GOP #tcot #p2

— Politicolnews (@Politicolnews) November 20, 2012